Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Prince Charming or Prince of Thieves?

Oh, what a witty headline. I should write for a major newspaper, I tell you.

To be honest, I don't know what else to say about the Prince Fielder signing. Well, other than maybe typing "YIPPIE" over and over a thousand times. Yeah, it's a lot of money. Sure, it puts Miguel Cabrera out of position. But it's not our money. And Big Mig is such a pro that I can see him using the next year to get himself into much better shape and work hard on improving his 3B skills. I think he'll be better at third than most people realize.

But there's plenty of other good (and bad) stories to read on the Prince signing. Here's a few that stood out to me.

-Phil Coke's Brain posted a fascinating look at the deal and how opinions of it differ from the online "nerds" and the casual fan. Amazing how the class clowns sometimes churn out some of the more thought provoking pieces from time to time.

/looks around for approval

/gets none

/kicks rock and slowly walks away

-Kurt from BYB shares a personal story on how Cecil Fielder was a main reason in him discovering his love of the Detroit Tigers and how Prince is helping him relive those memories. He also made me feel good to know that I wasn't the only person singing "The Little Prince" song yesterday. Phew.

-Lynn Henning isn't about to let Drew Sharp be the only Tigers writer to piss in everyone's corn flakes today. He compares the Tigers to the Phillies and Red Sox of last year before concluding that Cabrera may end up whining like a spoiled six year old if he doesn't end up liking third base. I find this extremely unlikely and think Lynn's upset that he wasn't tipped off on this deal before it happened.

-Lynn's fellow News writer Bob Wojnowski, however, applauds the deal, especially the will to win of Tigers owner Mike Ilitch. Congrats to Bob for not falling into the common "doom and gloom" trap that many Detroit newspaper writers have copied from their Boston brethren.

-And, of course, the Fielder signing was going to bring the Rick Reilly of Detroit sports, Mitch Albom, out of whatever hole he hides in collecting money for being terrible. Albom uses the word "big" 28 times in his piece and says little else of substance. It's like someone read a how-to book on writing a cookie cutter sports column and then followed it step-by-step. Albom is the Juan Pierre of sports writers. He's overrated, overpaid, and awful. But senile old farts love him, I guess.

-For those out there that have been comparing this to the Pujols deal with the Angels, Garret Craig at MCB points out that the Tigers/Prince deal looks to be the better one and gives some good reasons to support it. I tend to agree with him.

-Josh Slagter at mLive thinks Mr. I could have spent his money wiser. I don't share his opinion due to several variables not covered here, but he brings up some interesting ideas while playing fantasy GM. I just don't think many of these guys had much interest in coming to Detroit in the first place.

-Finally, Jayson Stark at the Worldwide Leader lists the best 3-4 combos in baseball and puts the Cabrera/Fielder duo at the top. Still no word on if Jim Leyland plans to bat Don Kelly in between them just to make my head explode.

Whether you like the deal, love the deal, hate it, or are still just skeptical, you have to admit that it's, at least, as exciting of a time to be a Tigers fan as it has been in a long, long time. I think we all owe Mike Ilitch a gigantic thank you...

Could that $23 million a year have filled better holes? Yeah, maybe, but where was the 3rd baseman or 2nd baseman in his prime? I like out pitching staff, so we don't need a 3-6 year deal there, and Oswalt might be kicking himself now.

Will the infield defense be an abortion? Maybe, but at least 3 and 1/2 out of 4 of it can hit (But that other 1/2 has sneaky power).

What can't be overlooked is: We have an outgoing superstar player that the fans already know. Most Tigers fans 20 and above know and love Cecil. We have his son now, who is better and seems to want to be here. Even if we pull an 08 and finish last, ticket sales will soar and jersey sales will be through the roof for Prince. The "casual" fan loved Inge and his "grittiness". Maybe it was because he had been here and they could understand him. Maybe Miguel was shunned by the casual fan due to the language barrier. Prince doesn't have that problem. He was around at old Tiger stadium. The fans will flock to him because of his name.

Do Not Take This Blog Seriously.

The only thing I enjoy more than Detroit Tigers baseball is making fun of it and those that write about it. Most things you read here are meant in a humorous way. So do everyone a favor and lighten up. It's a joke. Oftentimes a bad one...

DesigNate Robertson was named after ex-Tiger pitcher, Nate Robertson and my hatred of his performances on the mound. He will be missed.

To those with an open mind and a sense of humor, I welcome you. Lets have some fun.